Linden shuts out Bear River

LINDEN — Hannah Ortega just needed her team to give her the lead. The freshman pitcher took care of the rest.

She allowed just two hits after Linden gave her an early advantage, and the second-seeded Lions beat No. 7 Bear River 6-0 on Monday in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V softball playoffs in Linden. The Lions (22-6) will play at 5 p.m. Wednesday against No. 3 Hughson, which beat Mariposa 8-0 on Monday at Arnaiz Softball Complex.

Linden coach Mark Miller hopes his team can keep playing as it did against the Bruins (10-10-1).

“I was really proud of our kids, they really rose to the occasion,” Miller said. “They put the ball in play and make them field the ball. We didn’t expect it to go like that; we knew what they had on the mound.”

Bear River pitcher Kaitlyn Maddux was strong, and struck out 12. But Ortega shined, allowing just one Bruin to get to second base.

Bear River didn’t have a hit until one out in the fifth, when pinch hitter Sydney Buckman hit a soft line drive into second field.

“My curve ball was working really well, I just kept going to it,” Ortega said. “Our defense was great today and we just played.”

The Lions’ offense wasted little time getting on the scoreboard. Carly Lucchetti led off the bottom of the first inning with a triple to left field on a ball which was misjudged by the fielder. She scored on an error, and later in the inning Amber Andrews had an RBI single to give Linden a 2-0 advantage.

“We can be one of those teams that can get in our own heads, so it’s good for us to get up early,” Lucchetti said. “We feel more confident and can get rolling.”

Linden pulled away with three runs in the fourth inning. Lucchetti drove in a run with an infield hit, and Destiny Holt had an RBI single.

Linden added another run in the sixth, and the Bruins couldn’t mount a rally against Ortega.

“The difference in this game was (Ortega) kept hitting the corners and we didn’t adjust to it,” Bear River head coach Steve McCullough said. “She did such a nice job for them.”

Lucchetti, Holt, Andrews, Madison Lara, and Brooke Bryant all had two hits each for the Lions.

Contact reporter Scott Linesburgh at (209) 546-8282 or slinesburgh@recordnet.com. Follow him on Twitter@ScottLinesburgh.

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